Italian airport exempts pesto from liquid ban

The rules on liquid ban has been relaxed by Genoa Airport. This comes at a time when there is stringent rules on airport security.

A press statement issued on May 15, 2017, urged passengers to “get on board an airplane carrying with you in hand luggage one or more pesto jars, even larger than 100 ml normally permitted by the liquids in the cabin.”

The order came into effect from May 16 after the Ascom, Genoa Airport and ENAC (National Agency for Civil Aviation struck a deal on pesto.

However, only direct passengers departing from Genoa Airport will be able to carry the edible liquid.

Pesto – a popular pasta sauce made with basil, cheese, and pine nuts – is a local speciality in Genoa.

Officials said that this move was “to promote pesto as a testimonial of the gastronomy and food excellence of Liguria, on the other to collect Donations to the Flying Angels Onlus Foundation, a Genoa-based foundation specializing in the air transportation of children and seriously ill children, to the only hospital where they can be treated before it is too late.

Another catch: Passengers will have to make a donation to Flying Angels Onlus Foundation.

“For a long time we realized that the standard on liquids in hand luggage forced many Genoese and tourists to leave the pesto jars on the way off our shore. We talk about 500 jars a year: a waste, but also a picture damage and a missed opportunity to promote our excellence. That is why we have asked the ENAC Management to find a solution that would allow, while always in the best respect of safety, boarding planes departing from Genoa bringing with it pesto, both home-made and bought in the store,” Explains Marco Arato, President of Genoa Airport.

How can you take pesto in carry-on luggage

Thanks to the collaboration between ENAC and Genoa Airport, a dedicated procedure has been developed: Passengers wishing to leave pesto in their hand luggage will only have to ask for the appropriate stamp in the agreed shops or at the airport ticket office On the jar , pouring a contribution of 50 cents. The entire proceeds of the initiative will be donated to Flying Angels . The jars will be subjected to a control with a special radiogenic device, which will last for a few seconds, and will then be returned to the passenger, which will then be able to board. The proceeds of the initiative will go entirely to the Flying Angels Onlus Foundation (https://www.flyingangelsfoundation.org).

“We are extremely pleased with this beautiful synergy around the project ‘Pesto is good ‘ to ensure that tourists and Genoese can bring our culinary tradition to the rest of the world,” says Paolo Odone, President Ascom Confcommercio Genoa.

Ascom’s associated stores are available to serve as a point of distribution of the bottles to be placed on pesto jars that will be embarked on as hand luggage, thus promoting the circulation of the original pesto culture and reiterating Genuinity.

“We are very honoured to be the beneficiaries of this initiative, which represents a clever and original way of networking and creating synergies,” says the Flying Angels Onlus Foundation.
“For us every contribution is crucial to ensuring the next air flight to a child who is urgently required to receive rescue hospital care. And requests are more and more. Thanks to Genoa Airport and ASCOM, and to all those who want to join the initiative, because pesto is not only good but also good!”